


Everybody Can Use a Hug

by 77skie77



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Brotp, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 19:45:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16667125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/77skie77/pseuds/77skie77
Summary: Times before and after the adventures of "The Raven Cycle" when Gansey, Ronan, Adam, Noah, and Blue have needed hugs.





	Everybody Can Use a Hug

This is set before the Raven Cycle begins and Blue meets the boys.

* * *

It’s exactly 3:29AM and Gansey has spent the last six hours trying to sleep. He has been up since exactly 5:28AM. That means he has been awake for twenty-two hours and one minute. His head aches. His eyes burn with frustrated tears at his body’s failure to sleep. Well, not his _whole_ body. His right arm fell asleep a few minutes ago. Naturally. Gansey groans and sits up. He clutches the covers close to him. It’s freezing in here. His body hurts too. He feels achy and he’s not sure why. As if that weren’t enough, his throat hurts. It’s probably because he’s trying not to cry. Great, now his thoughts are rhyming.

“Are you okay?” Noah asks.

Gansey jumps and nearly falls out of bed. He wasn’t exactly expecting company in his hour of self-pity.

“Oh, hi, Noah.” Gansey winces when he hears how choked up he sounds. That is what happens when one is near tears.

"Gansey?" Noah asks again.

"Yes, Noah?" Gansey's relieved to hear that his voice sounds closer to normal this time. He can't have them worrying about him. Gansey has it the easiest.

"What's wrong?" Noah asks.

That _is_ the question; isn't it?

"Nothing's wrong. Go back to bed; okay?" Gansey says.

"No way. There's something wrong. If you don't tell me, I'll wake Ronan up and you can tell _him_ instead." Noah replies.

"I'm fine." Gansey hopes he sounds convincing.

Noah stares at Gansey.

Gansey looks away and hopes Noah will take the hint and leave him alone. That would be better for everyone.

"We can help you now and then, Gansey. You don't have to be the group-mom all the time." Noah says.

"The what now?" Gansey asks.

"Ronan and Adam call you the group-mom or did they say the mom-friend?" Noah thinks about it for a few moments and then he shakes his head. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that you need to know that you don't have to handle everything on your own. We can help you. What do you need?"

Gansey struggles to think of what he could possibly need. Doesn't he have everything he needs? He has a home. He has two parents who are alive and don't abuse him. He has three best friends: Noah, Adam, and Ronan. He doesn't need food or clothing or any worldly thing. He even has a car. Granted, the Pig has seen better days, but it's his all the same. It counts. Maybe he could use a nap. That's what he needs. He needs sleep. Why can't he sleep? He just wants to rest, but his brain won't shut up. It won't stop telling him that he will never find Glendower and that he's just a failure who will lead his friends on an adventure as worthy as a dog chasing its tail with exactly the same results: feeling dizzy having gained nothing. That won't happen…will it? Can that happen? They've tried so hard to find Glendower. _Gansey_ has tried so hard and has given up so much sleep over this. That's why he was up late last night and woke up early this morning. Or, to be more accurate, it’s why he stayed up late Monday night and woke up early yesterday morning as they are now in the early hours of Wednesday. Now, he just wants one night off from Glendower. He wants to get to relax and go to sleep because he has a chemistry test later that he will fail if he doesn't get at least a few hours of sleep. Is that really too much to ask his worthless brain?

Gansey's eyes well up with tears. He blinks them back and stares at the blankets. If he stares hard enough, none of those pesky little things will fall. Noah won't know anything about them.

Gansey feels warm trickle down his cheek.

Oh, _come on_.

Why today?

"What’s on your mind?" Noah asks.

Gansey sighs, "I'm just tired. I can't sleep."

"I can't either. Do you want to watch a movie together? You can pick." Noah asks.

Gansey nods. "Thanks Noah."

Noah pats Gansey's shoulder. "No problem." Noah says.

No problem to Noah, but big problem to Gansey. He can't let them take care of him. His life is perfect, yet here he is, nearly crying over a little thing like a lack of sleep. Gansey's so pathetic. Gansey feels thirsty, so he gets up to go get some water. He, of course, trips on his way out and smacks his head hard against his desk. How he manages to do that, he does not know. Nor does he know how he manages to not start cursing like a sailor when pain spikes up and down the side of his head. Gansey grabs his face in his hand. His forehead is bleeding. It _hurts_. It hurts so freaking bad. Pain's jumping around in his head. It feels like someone decided to use his head as a drum, but instead of using drumsticks, they used a freaking jackhammer. Gansey sees white and the next thing he knows, he’s on the ground and Noah’s shaking his shoulder.

“Gansey wake up!” Noah shouts.

“Huh?” Gansey opens his eyes and lets in bright terrible light into his vision. He closes his eyes again and clutches his face in his hands.

“Gansey, say something.” Noah says.

Noah has never sounded louder.

“Please speak quieter. Everything is loud.” Gansey mumbles.

"Come on, open your eyes.” Noah says.

Gansey opens his eyes a little.

“All right, now let’s sit you up.” Noah grabs Gansey’s arm and pulls him out of the fetal position and into a sitting position.

The room spins and Gansey feels like he might throw up. He squeezes his eyes shut and whispers, “Stop.”

“Okay, you can stay like that, but how bad is it? Let me see." Noah's on his knees beside Gansey. He pulls Gansey's hands away. Noah's hands are cold.

"Oh gosh Gansey, I think you might need to go to the hospital." Noah says quietly.

"I don't _want_ to go to the hospital." Gansey's voice cracks.

"You gotta Gansey." Noah puts his hand on Gansey's shoulder.

Gansey can't take it anymore. He buries his face in his hands and cries. If he has to go to the hospital, he’ll miss the test. So, if he wants to make up the test, he’ll have to take the free response test instead of the multiple choice test. It's always easier to take the multiple choice test. Why does he have to be so pathetic?

Cold and ropy arms pull Gansey to a sitting position and wrap around him. "It's gonna be okay." Noah says.

Gansey's frozen. He needs to stop crying. He needs to stop letting Noah hug him. He needs to move away. He needs to be the leader.

Noah rubs Gansey's back and whispers, "Shhh, it's okay." in Gansey's ear.

Gansey gives in. He buries his face in Noah's shoulder and sobs. He's so tired. He can't stop being tired. He needs help.

"It's okay, buddy." Noah says.

It's _supposed_ to be okay. It's their junior year of high school. They're already halfway done. This is supposed to be fun. Gansey's not having any fun right now. His head hurts and he's cold and he's tired. He just wants it to stop.

"What's all this noise?" Ronan asks.

Gansey jumps.

"What happened to you?" Ronan asks in his typical Ronan fashion.

"Gansey tripped and hit his head on the desk. He's bleeding." Noah says.

"Looks like I get to drive Pig." Ronan starts rummaging around the room and puts shoes on Gansey’s feet.

“I can do that.” Gansey chokes out.

“It’s fine.” Ronan replies. When he’s done, he grabs Gansey's arm and pulls him to his feet.

Gansey feels woozy and can't seem to stop the tears that won't stop coming. He hugs himself. He's cold too.

Ronan puts a hand on Gansey’s shoulder and steadies him so he doesn’t fall over. “Let’s start walking. Can you make it out of the apartment?” Ronan asks in a voice softer than Gansey thought Ronan would ever make in his presence.

“Yeah,” Gansey sniffles.

"Wait, take this with you." Noah walks over and wraps Gansey's comforter around Gansey's shoulders.

Everything is silent for a minute except for Gansey's hiccuping sobs.

"Do you feel comforted?" Noah asks.

Gansey lets out a laughing sob.

"You're such an idiot, Noah. Get the door." Ronan says. Gansey thinks he can hear the smile in Ronan's voice.

Gansey tries to take a step forward and his legs give out. Ronan grabs Gansey before he hits the ground. Gansey hides his face and tries to stop the new round of sobs from coming; he’s so pathetic.

"How hard did you hit your head?" Ronan asks. He sounds worried. Ronan never sounds worried.

"I dunno." Gansey sniffles.

"He was already exhausted. This probably isn't helping much." Noah says.

"I'm gonna have to carry you." Ronan says.

"What?" Gansey whispers.

Ronan picks Gansey up bridal-style and starts walking.

Gansey feels sick.

"Ronan, stop." Gansey whispers.

"No way. You're gonna hurt yourself if you walk." Ronan says as he maneuvers them through the front doorway that leads to the stairs.

"Sick." Gansey whispers.

Ronan nearly drops Gansey but puts him on the ground in a semi-gentle way.

Gansey vomits on their “Welcome” mat.

Ronan curses under his breath.

Noah's nowhere to be found.

Ronan sits beside Gansey and puts his hand on his shoulder. "You done yet?" Ronan asks.

Gansey nods and sucks in a breath. Nodding is bad. Nodding is terrible. It’s the worst thing Gansey could’ve possibly done at that moment and he did it and it was a mistake.

Tears escape Gansey’s eyes which are squeezed shut. He clamps his mouth shut, hoping to force himself to stop crying, but he can still hear the pathetic keening sound he’s making. His head’s pounding. He doesn’t understand how it could hurt this badly right now. That edge of his desk must be harder than he thought.

“You’re gonna be okay.” Ronan says. “I’m gonna get you to help.”

“I’m sorry.” Gansey whispers.

“Don’t apologize. This isn’t your fault. Can I carry you again?”

“The test,”

“I don’t care about the stupid test. We’ll take the free response and BS our ways into decent grades. It’ll be fine.”

“Harder,”

“I literally do not care about missing the test. We need to get your head looked at. Are you ready?”

“Yeah,”

“Okay,”

Ronan picks Gansey up again and carries him downstairs. They make it all the way to the car before Gansey gets sick again.

“Ronan,” Gansey whispers.

Ronan sets Gansey down beside the Pig and Gansey vomits. He’s cold and miserable and his head hurts and he doesn’t know why he’s vomiting so much. He didn’t eat anything bad last night.

“I think you might have a concussion, man.” Ronan says as he rubs Gansey’s back. “Just let it out, you’re okay.”

Gansey hangs his head. He just wants to sleep. He doesn’t bother trying not to cry anymore. He’s too tired. “I’m sorry.” He whispers.

“It’s not your fault. Are you ready to get in the car?” Ronan asks.

“Yeah,” Gansey whispers.

Ronan picks Gansey up again and carries him to Ronan’s car.

“What about the Pig?” Gansey whispers.

“Your car’s screwed up enough. The last thing it needs is to smell like barf.” Ronan says.

Gansey feels weirdly touched by this.

They get in Ronan’s car and Ronan drives them to the hospital. Gansey does end up throwing up in Ronan’s car and Ronan deals with it using a lot more grace and a lot less swearing than Gansey would’ve guessed. They finally get to the hospital and wait forever for Gansey to be seen.

“How are you holding up?” Ronan asks.

“Sound hurts.” Gansey whispers. Everything is loud and his head hurts and he can’t stop thinking about how much his head hurts. He’s cold too. He got throw up on the comforter so they had to leave it in the car.

“Put this on.” Ronan unzips his hoody, takes it off, and hands it to Gansey.

“Don’t wanna get blood on it.” Gansey mumbles.

“There’s already blood on it.” Ronan says.

“I can’t,” Gansey says.

“You can or I’ll do it for you. You’re cold.”

“You’re scary when you’re nice.” Gansey takes the hoody and puts it on.

“Yup. Better?”

“Yeah,” Gansey can’t stop shivering though.

“Come here,” Ronan wraps his arm and Gansey’s shoulder and asks, “Does this help?”

“Yeah,” Gansey puts his head on Ronan’s shoulder. It’s strange that his friend is being so comforting. “Why’s it so cold?”

“I don’t know dude. I think you’re getting sick.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it, but you’re like a brother to me so I can’t just not help while you’re in pain.”

“Thanks for that. Also, did I mention that you’re scary when you’re nice?”

“You did.”

“You kinda are.”

“That’s the plan.”

Gansey remembers the chemistry test they’re supposed to take later. They probably won’t get to take it now.

“I’m sorry about the test.”

“You already brought up the test too.”

“Oh, but I’m still sorry.”

“It’s okay. School doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.”

“Does it?”

“Huh?”

“You only seem to care about Glendower these days; you just go to school because you’re supposed to.”

“We _are_ supposed to.”

“Yeah, but the only one who actually _cares_ about it in our group is Adam.”

“I bet Noah cares about it.”

“He never talks about school.”

“Yeah,”

The nurse comes in. Gansey gets diagnosed with a concussion and the flu. Ronan drives Gansey home. Noah’s not there. Ronan leaves and comes back with groceries and a fluffy red blanket.

“It’s clean.” Ronan says as he dumps the blanket in Gansey’s lap.

“Thanks for letting me use it.”

“It’s for you to keep. I’m gonna make you some soup. The doctor said you need fluids. First, I’ll put _Merlin_ on since you haven’t seen it yet. Noah and I like it. You probably will too. It’s about Merlin and King Arthur.”

“Thank you.” Gansey feels guilty that Ronan’s missing school to take care of him.

“Don’t mention it.” Ronan says as he puts the show on.

Gansey likes the first episode of the show _Merlin_ , but he ends up falling asleep under the warm blanket, listening to his friend curse at the soup he’s making for them.


End file.
